The Massey Hall show was amazing. I was sitting 2nd row on the right side of the auditorium facing the stage. It all began when the PA became very Bass heavy and Paul and the boys came out asking the crowd for more noise, with their hands, big smile son their faces. They stood, instruments in hand with their patch cables held in the air, like a mission was about to begin. They plugged in and Gilbert’s guitar player, Bruce Boulliet (his former band mate from Racer X) became the human capo for “Get out of my Yard” before they crashed into “Hurry Up” and several others from Paul’s newest instrumental guitar album. His wife played keyboard for him and she was pretty amazing too. After a few of Gilberts own songs, he played a few Racer X tunes featuring great harmony guitar solos from both of the ex-Rx axe-men, like Scarified and Skit Skat Wah. Paul was impressive with his voice, singing great on songs like Spaceship One and Mr. Big’s “To Be with You,” which features an amazingly melodic tapping riff that Paul performs perfectly and really shows his great skill as a player and not just a guitar wanker. They finished with Green Tinted Sixties Mind. Then John Petrucci came out with a bang. He began the show by playing a heavy riff from the side of the stage that got the crowd clapping along before, he broke out a low B note from his 7-string to began the tension that starts the show. Dave Larue on Bass and his Dream Theater band-mate Mike Portnoy on drums, Petrucci began with “Jaws of Life” from his solo CD Suspended Animation. He ripped through almost every song on the album during his hour-long set. John was definitely the loudest part of the night (next to the G3 jam) and he had an amazing tone to his guitar. At times, there was too much delay though and his notes seemed to ring together during the fast runs. He finished with “Damage Control”, where he seemed to lay off the delay, allowing the song to be heard clear as crystal. Petrucci was definitely the most technically skilled and focused of the G3’ers. The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Joe Satriani took the stage with his own custom 7-string and crashed into the great set-opener “War”. He had Dave Larue pulling double duty on bass with him, his fantastic drummer Jeff Campetelli and tour manager Galen Henson on rhythm guitar. Satch played his typical hits and added a few great lesser-known tunes like “Circles” and “One Big Rush” to spruce up the set. His playing is unstoppable. The way he played the muted sweep arpeggios in “Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing” and bounces around on stage while doing it, barely looking at the fret-board, is a sight you have to see to believe. As Joe’s set came to an end he played “Always with me, Always with you.” As he finished the last chorus, where the album-version ends and began the “live” part a familiar face came out in the form of John Petrucci. He played such a great solo over the B major part of the song, when Paul Gilbert came out to play his own solo to it, he was laughing and pointing at John saying “that was amazing” and high-fiveing him. If Paul Gilbert is impressed then it goes to show Petrucci is at the top of his game no matter what critics of him say. Paul went on to perform a great solo too. People knew the G3 jam had begun and they ran through several Hendrix tunes, Goin’ Down and introduced Jumping Jack Flash with a story Paul told about Keith Richards snorting his fathers ashes with cocaine. Paul sang all the Hendrix tunes and shared singing with Satriani for the others, so vocals were great. After the show Gilbert and Satch signed autographs and let fans take some pictures outside Massey Hall. It was truly an amazing night filled with talent.

Sets: Paul Gilbert: Get out of my Yard, Hurry Up, The Curse of the Castle Dragon, Rusty Old Boat, Scarified, Scit Scat Wah, Spaceship One, Twelve Twelve, To Be With You, Down to Mexico, Green Tinted Sixties Mind.

John Petrucci: Jaws Of Life, Glasgow Kiss, Lost Without You, Curve, Wishful Thinking, Damage Control.

Joe Satriani: War, One Big Rush, Flying In A Blue Dream, Cool #9, Super Colossal, Satch Boogie, Circles, Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing, Surfing With The Alien, Always With Me, Always With You,

G3 Jam: Foxy lady/Purple Haze/Voodoo Child End, Goin’ Down, Jumping Jack Flash.

Just mindblowing. Cant think of any other way to describe it. I'd been listening to Joe for ages, but it was my son who introduced me to Paul & John. So we decided to go together. My son (Joe) was all about Gilbert and he wasnt disappointed. He's been playing PG (on guitar not MP3s) at home since. Both of us were unsure about what to expect from John and were again, simply blown away. And of course, neither of us could be more impressed by the God-Like Entity that is Joe S.

Perfect Players. Perfect venue. Perfect evening. If you missed it, a Perfect Shame.

Many thanks guys. See you next time.

Joe, I have seen you live 9 times now. 3 of those were with G3 members and have always been elated and completely impressed. You were (and are) simply amazing! You should, however, explain to us fans what the hell happened at the Toronto gig on Thursday night. That performance was not what I expected out of a virtuoso like yourself. Not only was your playing uninspiring, you hit way more than a few "bad" notes on tunes you have played for years. I, seriously, could not believe my ears. Since you are human and certainly entitled to an "off night", it was disappointing, as a fan, to actually witness that rare occurance.

In the end though, there is simply nobody that has the fret skills and creativity you bring to the music world both on stage and in the studio and I remain a life long fan. I only hope that this show was an anomoly and you get some rest, or food, or whatever it takes to get you back into top form and the flawless play we have all become accustomed to. We still luv ya man!!